Redeemed
by ykkinnikky
Summary: What do you do when everything isn't as it seems? When your past comes back to haunt you? What would you do to for attonement? Ben and Tia learn the hard way that redemption isn't always easy.
1. Chapter 1

**Preface:** _How do you go back? How do you go back to something you knew wasn't right, even though it was all you knew? What do you do when you're shown that there is something more, something to fight for?_

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.

The Wonder Years

**Chapter 1**

_"Sir! Look what I just found, a full pot!" The boy was not much older than ten, round faced and innocent. He used his brush and hand pick to gently pry the pot from the ground. The pot only had a few cracks and chips, __nearly __perfect. The pot was decorated with faded pictures of men and women clad in gold, surrounded by hieroglyphs. The boy brushed a few more specks of dirt from the pot and held it up to the burly, plum faced, heavy set man who had walked up behind him._

"Well done my boy! Very well done, you're better than half the men on the dig, you are!" Mr. Alton beamed at the boy, who could see the pride radiating in the large man's eyes. The man ran a dirty hand through his short, grimy blonde hair. The boy watched as the man pulled out a handkerchief from the back pocket of his trousers and used the filthy rag to buff the pot gently before using it to wipe the beads of sweat forming at his brow. The boy turned back to his digging, barely listening as the old man whispered, "Oh Benjamin, how is it possible? King George himself would be pleased."

Something loud and clanking broke Benjamin from his memories. He opened his ruby eyes to see the flight attendant pushing the drink cart past him down the aisle. As much as it bothered Ben to not be polite he closed his eyes, pretending to sleep as the woman went past. She was lucky; the stuffy red-eye from Seattle to Cairo would have been hell, literally, if Ben and his companions hadn't had their "drinks" before.

Benjamin Jonathan Montgomery had been a vampire for nearly eighty years. In those eighty years, he had all but forgotten about most of his human memories. He'd never experienced a memory like this before. It had played like an old black and white movie being projected at some old movie theater; only this movie theater brought back the painful repressed memories that people were glad to have forgotten. The memory was crystal clear, nothing like the normal fuzzy memories he had of being a human.

After the woman moved down the aisle, he opened his eyes. He shook his head once to shake out the memory. Was it real? Had it really happened? To Ben, it felt real, like it had happened just a moment ago.

Ben leaned forward in his chair and started massaging his temples. Useless gesture or not, the simple motion seemed to relax his mind. It must have just been a fluke. He really didn't remember his human life that accurately. After all, the incident in Washington had only just happened a few days before. All that activity and interaction with others of their kind must have surely put his mind in overdrive.

A soft velvet hand grabbed his left one, and gently pulled it into the lap of an olive skinned woman. Her ruby red eyes matched his, but had a depth as large as an ocean. Her round face was framed by a wave of black hair that seemed to sparkle in the light.

It took everything he had to muster a smile real enough to put Tia's mind at ease. As much as he loved her, it wasn't something he was quite ready to talk about, let alone explain. How do you explain something you weren't even sure of yourself?

Tia wasn't convinced. She brought her other hand to Ben's face, caressing and pulling it closer to her. As their eyes leveled, her gaze hardened, making it clear that once alone, he was going to have to talk. Ben kissed her lightly, affirming that he got the message and closed his eyes.

_Mr. Alton was standing in his canvas tent over a large map on an even bigger table. He turned to look at whoever had just entered his tent. Upon recognizing the intruder, he broke into a large welcoming smile._

The speed in which Ben opened his eye's startled Tia. It wasn't often that anything at all bothered Ben. Just as Tia opened her mouth to question him, Ben spoke. "It's nothing darling, just feeling all of the air currents. In fact, we'll be hitting a patch of turbulence soon that you, Amun and Kebi refuse to let me manipulate. Not to worry."

It was true, they were about to hit some turbulence, and it was true that his companions had forbid him from using his gift while in the air.

"_We don't know what could happen if you messed with the atmosphere while the pilots were trying to fly! Let the humans operate without interference Benjamin!" _Amun had been very adamant since the beginning about keeping his talents under wraps.

Most of that had gone to the wind since what had happened in Washington. To Ben, Amun had been worried for nothing, and meeting the Volturi hadn't changed a thing. He was flying home to Cairo, not Volterra.

Tia squeezed Ben's hand, oblivious to the undercurrent of his thoughts. Ben knew that this wasn't over, but for now he had more time to work out what he would say.

Ben settled back into his chair, staring blankly out the window.

_"Benjamin, son, come over here. Can you tell me what you think of this?" Mr. Alton was motioning towards a boy with midnight black hair and brilliant honey brown eyes who looked to be in his early teens. He seemed to be holding up what looked like a rock with old hieroglyphics on it. _

_The boy made his way across the dig site, careful not to inhibit the work of the other archeologists. He was older now, eighteen and strong from laboring around dig site after dig site. His hard work was evident by the sweat glistening off his shirtless body. If the boy hadn't had a strong English accent, the locals could have mistaken his tan as him being one of their own. _

_As he reached Mr. Alton, he smiled as he examined the rock before taking it. The hieroglyphs were old, certainly older than anything he'd ever seen, especially during this dig._

The second the rock touched the boy's hand it grew hot to his touch, but nothing about its appearance had changed. The rock had four triangles on it, two normal but one upside down, and two with a line through it again with one upside down. To the boy it seemed like rock was speaking to him. He felt different than when he felt the normal hunches he got while touching the earth. The rock seemed to be actually speaking a foreign tongue, one that the boy, somehow, understood.

The boy stood completely still. The rock seems to be saying 'Hello Benjamin, we've waited a long time to speak to you,' but it was absolutely absurd for a rock to speak, let alone say hello. 

"_Sir, I have no idea what this is, it doesn't look like normal Egyptian hieroglyphs. Should we call my father to translate it?" The boy asked without taking his eyes off the symbols. He was uneasy about the possibility of calling his father, but he felt like he had to protect himself. The rock was still speaking to him._

The boy was oblivious to how closely Mr. Alton was examining his reaction. Mr. Alton knew full well that this wasn't an artifact from the dig site. Mr. Alton smiled to himself and swelled with pride, he knew it, the boy wasn't just lucky after all; his destiny might one day supersede the field of archeology. Mr. Alton thought that most certainly the boy would find a better life then this, the boy deserved it. 

"_No son, I don't think we need to bother your father, he's a busy man…" Mr. Alton stopped speaking abruptly. He'd been interrupted by a loud and sudden bang, followed by a series of confused and panicked shouts in Arabic. Mr. Alton seized the rock from the boy, "Run Benjamin! They are here! Go! Now! Find your father, hide!"_

The boy had no idea who "they" were, but ran just like his mentor had told him to. He looked back as he ran, to spare one last look at Mr. Alton before finding his father. 

_The boy stopped mid-run frozen in terror Mr. Alton was on the ground, struggling, pinned by what looked like a man. The man had Mr. Alton pinned by just his knees, no small accomplishment. The boy watched as the man bent his head down towards Mr. Alton's neck and watched in horror as Mr. Alton ceased to struggle against his attacker. Suddenly the ground beneath the boy's feet was urging him to run, run as fast as he could. The boy, too shocked to deny the pull, ran as fast as the ground could carry him home._

"Ben?"

Tia's voice seemed to wake Ben. It took him a few moments to realize that there was an excess of movement happening around him. They must have landed.

Ben stood up, and closed his eyes one more time to make sure that all the traces of the memory were gone.

He opened his eyes and turned to face Tia, "I know I have a lot to tell you, but we need to find Amun and Kebi and get home first." He held his hand out to her, willing her with his eyes to accept.

Tia considered Ben for a moment, and weaved her hand into his. "I trust you Ben."

As they stepped foot on the gravel of Cairo, he felt a familiar nudge of from below his feet. The feeling still felt the same as always, loyalty, consistence, patience. But this time there was an undercurrent of sadness and urgency Ben rarely felt. Ben projected back a feeling of confusion. He didn't feel another nudge the rest of the way home.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thank you to my fabulous beta, NicKnight for everything she does! Also, I do not own Twilight.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths,  
The valiant never taste of death but once."

William Shakespeare – Julius Caesar

**Chapter 2**

Amun hated going slow. As he pushed the car past 100, the motorway connecting Cairo and Alexandria seemed like a blur. Speed had always been Amun's favorite part of his new life. He always knew the fastest way to get where he needed to go, the quickest way to get what he wanted, and the most expedient way to bring anything to an end. That was, until he'd met Ben.

He quickly glanced into the review mirror, at the boy who had changed his life so much. The boy was staring blankly out into the landscape, lost in thought. Ben was much like the elements he controlled. Like air, fire, water, and earth, he had a flowing mind, a sense of righteousness, was capable of great passion, and was the rock of the family. But he also could be fierce, scorching, destructive, and unpredictable. He could balance both the constructive and the destructive sides like no other. Amun knew that by far, Ben was the better man in every way.

Amun huffed angrily as he turned his eyes back to the road. He'd tried, to no avail, to be more like the man he'd watched Ben become. All he'd done is frustrate himself, for his nature, he'd come to realize, was that of a weak man.

He was greedy. He'd changed Ben only because of the power he knew he'd have. Amun gave a quick, guilty glance at Tia. He'd only changed her because he knew Ben wouldn't have cooperated with him otherwise. He'd stalked them for months, and took them for himself.

He was proud. For years he helped Benjamin hone his skills. He had conned himself into believing that Ben would use his power for him and him alone. He would talk Kebi's ear off with all of his boasts of "his" spectacular find, "his" power, of what having this kind of power under his control could do for "their" family.

Above all, he was a coward. For years he had lectured Ben on the importance of family, friendship, and protecting what you held dear. He'd preached these things to keep Ben's loyalty to him, to keep him from joining the Volturi. Yet, when it came time for him to act on his words, instead of fight he chose flight. He had seen the look in Ben's eyes when they finally met up again in Vancouver. Amun and Kebi had run to the Canadian city to wait out the aftermath of the Volturi conflict. He was ashamed to admit that even the possibility of Ben and Tia being destroyed, let alone his friend Carlisle, wasn't enough to get him to turn back. When Ben and Tia joined them to tell them of the battle, he'd played it off like he was angry with him that they hadn't followed.

He was disgusting, vile, evil, and cruel. His vampiric nature didn't help matters, only perpetuated the nasty cycle of destroying those who he loved the most. He hated himself, he hated that he couldn't, or wouldn't change. Above all, he hated that Benjamin still was blinded by loyalty, a loyalty he didn't deserve.

Amun pulled up to their home, parked the car, and slowly turned off the ignition. He waited and watched as Ben, Tia, and Kebi filed out of the car.

As Ben made his way back into the house, he noticed something. Normally, Benjamin constantly felt the ebb and flow of the elements. Training and time had intensified the feeling. But now he felt nothing, as if the elements had just gone to sleep. The wind wasn't dancing around him, trying to get him to play. The Earth wasn't nudging him to explore the treasures beneath.

He hesitated for a moment, debating whether to send a jolt and wake them up, but thought better of it. If he knew anything, it was that it wasn't his place to mess with the fickle personality of Mother Nature. He could manipulate it her but only because she allowed him to.

He stood there contemplating the meaning of the elements' stillness. Was this just part of the natural cycle of things? Or was this connected to his vision he had on the plane? Was there something he was missing?

He hadn't realized how long he was standing there until Kebi had come back outside looking for him.

"Benji," she called to him, her heavily accented voice piercing the silence, "is there something wrong?"

Kebi hardly spoke, not because she was unintelligent, but because she was painfully shy. Some would see how she acted with Amun as subservience, but Ben knew the truth. She just liked to let Amun, whose presence could take up a whole room, run the show. Ben had never seen anything to make him believe that Kebi was anything but Amun's equal. Kebi liked to communicate her feelings by action rather than words, only using them when completely necessary; Tia had learned this from Kebi.

Ben must have been standing there for a long time for her to use her pet name for him. "I am fine, just got caught up in thinking I suppose. Nothing to worry about."

Kebi walked up to him then, and caressed his face. Such a gentle gesture, that Ben knew to mean _'I love you, but I know you are lying.'_

Ben had just opened his mouth to respond when Tia's voice floated out from inside the house. "Ben, Kebi, I think you need to come inside."

As Tia waited for Ben and Kebi to find her in the study, she turned over in her hand the letter she had found in the foyer. It amazed her how much a small piece of paper with words could be so damaging. She'd known in Washington that what had happened would divide the family; this letter would break it. She folded the letter, and tucked it away in her pocket just as the others entered the room.

Only Ben stopped to look at her, his gaze taking her in. The way he looked at her made her glad her heart could no longer beat, for it would be racing. She noted that as he took her in he seemed to stand taller, as if to make himself seem more attractive to her. She laughed silently at the thought. Her heart had belonged to Ben as long as she could remember. She let the moment take her over, and looked closer at his face.

Their eyes locked.

_The boy was sitting and playing by himself running dirt through his fingers. An Arabic looking little girl came from the direction of the party to sit next to him. The boy was the most intriguing thing she had ever seen. He seemed so content just sitting in the sand. She examined her own hands which had never played in the sand before. Excitement lit up her face, which was uncovered unlike most of the village women. This was definitely not allowed. She gave the boy a quick smile, and started playing in the dirt with him._

"What is your name?" the boy had asked, looking deeply into the little girl's eyes. The girl's breath hitched, she'd never met a boy who had ever looked at her this way, like an equal. She couldn't answer, his gaze rendering her speechless. Instead she looked away, and continued to play in the sand. 

_The boy had shrugged this off. Sitting in the sand with the pretty village girl was better than being at the party. His father and Mr. Alton were throwing a party for all the villagers as a thank you for their hospitality to the archeological teams that had stayed in the last few years. He knew the girl could understand him, as Mr. Alton had__taught the villagers to speak English at the Chief's request. _

_However, the party seemed completely pointless to the boy. The villagers always steered clear of the dig site, their superstitions keeping them away. But, if it meant that he got to stay longer with this girl from the village, maybe the party wasn't so bad of an idea._

They played in silence, communicating in smiles and silence for nearly an hour. The boy had never met anyone like her before. Her flowing black hair wisped around her face in the wind in such a way that it framed her beautiful face. The silence between them was refreshing to the boy, who had grown up in a world of constant noise. The boy was about to ask her if he could see her again when the village Chief came angrily up to them.

"Tia! Go home now!" He continued to grumble in Arabic as he held out his hand for the girl to take. Reluctantly, the little girl got up and went to take her father's hand. She turned back to give the boy a look filled with sadness and to wave a goodbye. The father had looked back too, his eyes full of hatred. 

"If you two don't care to answer, we will just leave you two alone!" Amun's angry voice had snapped the both of them back to the present.

Tia looked around the room bewildered, not understanding what had just happened. Kebi was staring at her with confusion. Amun was somehow standing next to Ben, glaring at him. The memory of her first time meeting Ben had been like a dream. But, she hadn't slept in over eighty years. She let her gaze find Ben's eyes.

Ben returned her gaze. The look on her face made his heart drop. They had experienced that memory together. She had seen everything he had seen. Unwillingly he tore his gaze away from his wife; they would be able to talk about this later.

"I'm sorry Amun, what is it that you had said?" Ben turned to look at his maker.

Amun huffed, annoyed, "I said, I think it is time for the family to move."


End file.
